T'WAS MY FIRST CROWN (Anna Kournikova)

Member Name: dolphin_style

Product:	Anna Kournikova
Date:	27/07/01 (289 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good looking is eye candy for the people, Great return of serve, Good doubles game

Disadvantages: Her attractivness creates alot of media attention - not always positve, Her serveis relatively weak, Poor success in singles

Anna Kournikova: the name is synonymous in the minds of many a young male.

She’s done for tennis what the Dyson has done for vacuum cleaners.

The “Goddess of Tennis”, the medias love child, and a tasty bit of crumpet to boost.

I’ve decided its about time I write an opinion that is worthy of a crown. No ifs not buts. I need a shiny little helmet nestling on my profile page. I’ve wrote about 20 ops now, all reasonable quality – 95% rated VU overall. But, as many of you know, it’s a crown that’s the mark of a great writer. I’ve come to that stage where I want, no NEED, a crown.

So here goes, Mrs. Kournikova, as the benefactor of my crown attempt:

ANNA THE AVERAGE PERSON
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She lives in Miami Florida, located on the east side of America. She was born on June 7th 1981, hehe only 3 days before my birthday. Russia is the birthplace of this modern day athlete, and after nearly 20 years on our wee old planet she stands proud at 1.73m. (Or 5 foot 8 inches to you and me). And she tips the scales at a mere 123lbs. Petite little madam indeed.

Her parents are called Sergei and Alla, and they encouraged Anna to play sports from an early age. In fact for her 5th Christmas present she received, guess what. Yes, a tennis racket: a gift that would shape her life over the next 2 decades.

Her hard and cold childhood is a far cry from her jet set lifestyle today. The family selling their possessions funded her early days: as if destining Anna for great things.

The media portray her perhaps a little snobby and a times bitchy. However those close to her know she has her head screwed on and realises just how lucky she is. Most her friends she used to play with still remain in the economically struggling harshness they call Moscow. Whenever things overwhelm her she say she “Thinks back to the problems encountered as a child
, and realises that things are not that bad”. Indeed.

Between the ages of 9 and 15 Anna’s life moved fast, and as her tennis skills improved, so did her lifestyle. From the cold climate of Russia she moved to the US and enrolled Nick Bolletierri's famed tennis academy. Here she blossomed and quickly matured in to a tennis pro…

Quick facts:

· Favourite city is Paris
· Her parents made a $10,000 donation to upgrade Anna’s first tennis club
· Likes to read horror story’s
· Likes to watch the late chat shows.
· Likes music, especially classical. Maybe she’s not perfect!
· In another life she would like to be an actress
· Began playing tennis at the age of 5.
· Favourite colour is black
· Other sports she likes include Basketball and Ice Hockey


ANNA THE TENNIS PLAYER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In my opinion, the standard of tennis that Anna displays, doesn’t justify the amount of media attention that Anna. For a woman who has reached a personal best of 8th in the world, she has had her fair share of front-page time. However it’s not always good. The press are always ready to pounce, and when Anna has her bad day(s), they are more than ready to capitalise. That’s one of the problems with Anna’s game, she’s simply too inconsistent. One week she can beat 4 top 10 players in concession, then the next lose to a rank outsider in the first round.

As of yet, Anna has never won a Grand slam. Well not on her own anyway. Its doubles where she seems to have succeeded, with 1 Grand slam title, and 12 Sanex WTA TOUR doubles titles. This compare with 0 single Sanex titles. She has partnered the world’s best: from Hingis to Davenport, Anna has been there and won at the highest level. The success in single’s, needs to come soon is Anna wishes to be remembered for her Tennis, rather than her body.

Her career
prize money stands at over $2.5m, which although seems a lot, doesn’t go anywhere near reflecting the potential that Anna has.

She has got a career match play record of WON – 167, LOST – 89. This is okay, but then again when you compare it with the world’s best, it seem that Anna has to step things up a gear.

The year 2000, seen the arrival of a new millennium, and with that Anna’s best year on tour. She collected near on $1m in prize money, and was in the form of her life. On her way to the Final (Singles) in Moscow, she beat 4 top seed consecutively. However, about from a 4th round finish in the Australian Open, this was her solemn good performance in the Single. Again it was in doubles where Anna earned her keep, reaching 9 championship finals. Out of these she won 6 titles, 4 of which were with her great friend: Martina Hingis.

As well as playing with the best on the pro, Anna also had the honour of representing her country. She played for the Russian Fed Cup team for 2 seasons beginning 1996. Also, she represented her country at the 1996 Olympic games.

To sum up her Tennis career, I would give you the stats of her 1999 season. She finished as number 1 ranked doubles player in the world. However she didn’t come close to reaching the top 16 in singles. If its money she’s after then success in doubles will do her fine, however the goal that’s driven her since childhood: the wins in singles tournaments needs to be achieved.

Her favourite tournaments are Wimbeldon and Rolland Garros, however to win these, her game needs to improve considerably.

QUICK FACTS:

· Weakest part of game is definitely the serve
· Currently in a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with clothes giants Adidas.
· Prefers doubles to singles
· Strongest part of game is probably the return of serve
· Her game is classed as “all-court”. Double-Dutch to m
e I am afraid.
· For some reason doesn’t play as many matches as her fellow competitors.
· Uses a “double-hand” backhand. (Now there’s a tongue twister). This gives her otherwise petite frame, more power.


ANNA THE PIN-UP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well pin-up indeed, she’s on my bedroom wall! In fact that’s the reason why I wrote this opinion. I had a severe case of writers block, so I had a look around my room, and there was the Russian beauty, in all of her 2D glory on my wall.

The money she earns on the tour is a far cry from the royalties she receives. Her perfect body is plastered on everything from T-Shirts to mobile phone covers. Wherever she goes the eagle eyed media will follow. As the “News of the World” showed us, Anna cannot get a moment privacy. She was photographed topless whilst on a “private” beach in the US. This caused uproar in her Russian family, and up until now, her heavenly figure has been relatively sparse on our front pages.

It was just a few days ago that it was announced on the front of the Sun: “ANNA WEDS IN SECRET MARRIAGE”. As you can imagine, myself, along with every other young male, was devastated. The Holy Grail was gone, a married woman doesn’t hold up the same as a mistress. I shall still leave my poster on the wall, because in the end, it’s better than the dodgy plasterboard it hides. I think sales of her merchandise will now decrease and hopefully, the media attention will cool down. Maybe the Anna can become the tennis great she has always wanted to be.

QUICK FACTS:

· Elected in to the 1998 People Magazine "50 Most Beautiful People" list, one of only two athletes to make the list
· Has appeared topless in the “News of the World” and other foreign papers. Not of her own accord of course.
· Her pretty face appears on a certain dolphin’s bedroom wall. <
br><br><br><br>· She taking fella’s – married to a certain Ice Hockey player. Grr


ANNA – THE SUMMARY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anna is the epitome of a 21st century babe – she’s got the body and the looks to boot. Her activities off court are exploited a lot more than her playing. She is a great tennis player, and I believe within the nest 2 years, she will make her move up the rankings list. She’s proven she can beat the worlds best, but as you coach tells you, it’s doing it when it matters that counts. If she can play as good as she looks, well damn me, we’ll have a winner here. I hope she can fulfil the potential locked in there somewhere.

Thanks for reading


You slippery friend – dolphin_style

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